My Ethical Bathroom.

This is my bathroom. To the left, is my toilet, to the right is my shower. Tiny, my own and probably the most ecological and ethical part of my bedsit. Confused? So was a friend of mine, who raised one eyebrow and said "How? Surely it's the least eco-friendly with all the water?" Well, I considered that, and this is how I answered.

My Sikkim Girls Perfume, Sea Spray Hair Mist and Olney.

My Angels on Bare Skin Face Cleanser
(put back in the fridge after my shower),
Fair Trade Honey Shampoo and
Miranda Soap.

My first and most obvious answer to my statement is within the products I use to fill my bathroom. I have been an all-time Lush fan for about four years, and am very, very lucky to have gotten myself a Christmas Temp job there this year. Having been a vegetarian since I was seven years old, and profusely involved in a number of different charities and community events, it was only natural that I was drawn to this wonderful company who put ethics and the environment first. Their range of products are vegetarian and vegan, and strive to be as preservative free as possible. They also trade as fairly as they can and are against animal testing. Oh, and they recycle the plastics they do use and all the glitter in their range is PET free and safe to go back into the earth. No, really, they even invented a glitter made out of agar (that's seaweed!) just so that they could make sure their glitter wasn't going to damage the planet. So, as you can see, aside from my little plastic Octopus (his name is Olney and he glows) my bathroom shelves are filled with Lush products, wonderfully ethical and, once I use these lovely pots up, ecological. You see, another great thing Lush does is ask their customers to bring back their pots so that they can be recycled. In return for five pots, you get a fresh face mask too!

Okay, so we've looked at the ethical side, and some of the ecological side of my bathroom, but what about all that water? Well, this is where it gets pretty good. I'm a very lucky girl to be living on my own because not only do I NOT have to figure out where all the bread is going, but I also have no opportunities to be embarrassed. That's right, ladies and gents, I can use my toilet without thinking about who might use it after me and that makes me immensely happy. Of course, this also means I have control over who flushes it - me. The European Commission recently conducted a study and found that us Brits flush our toilets the most out of any other country in Europe and the average person could use around 150 litres of water a day just from flushing. THAT IS A LOT. So, I combat this by being very selective in my flushing. If it's yellow, yes, I will let it mellow for a bit, except when I have guests. Aside from those very rare moments when people are in my bedsit (really, it's no place to socialise), my toilet will only see one or two flushes a day - if I need to "flush it down", and one after all those yellows have mellowed for a while.


Brushing your teeth with running water is also a huge waste of water. I have never fully understood why people have this compulsion to leave the tap running whilst they're not using it. My tap stays off until I need to rinse my toothpaste from my brush and down the sink. Simple. We don't need the tap running and by leaving it to do so, you could waste up to 6 litres of water. At last, we came to my shower. I don't have a bath, but that's a very good thing. A shower is already has the potential to be more ecologically sound than a bath, all you have to do is limit yourself.

Now, the final thing that I liked to show off about my bathroom was this wonderful tub right here. It may not seem very special, but this piece s actually where I wash my clothes. Hand washing my clothes may seem like a long and difficult chore, but it's not only saved on the amount of water and electricity used in my flat, but also on the amount of pounds I would have to spend in the laundrette. This tub saves at least £6-8 a week in laundry (including drying), excellent savings for a student like myself. The stuff that's in the tub? That's also a Lush creation. FUN is a fantastic soap that you can model, re-use and wash yourself and your clothes in (though don't wash your clothes with the red one - I have pink pants because of this). It also gives a donation to a charity that supports children effected by the Fukushima disaster in Japan each time you buy it. This stuff lasts a long time and leaves your clothes smelling gorgeous and fresh. It's worth mentioning that you can wash your clothes in some of the shower gels that Lush offers also, just ask a Lushie in store!



So, there you have it - my ethical bathroom. Why not try to make a difference in your home, whether it's from swapping to something fair trade to just making sure you switch off a light you don't need, it's all worthwhile and I can tell you now, it feels great knowing what you're doing.